Goodbye, Dilbert  THIS MORNING my egregiously silly local newspaper declared that it is taking a most serious stand on the highest moral ground. In a one-paragraph front-page notice it canceled the comic strip, “Dilbert.” The strip is drawn by Scott Adams, winner of the national Reuben Award for Best Newspaper Comic Strip. Adams made a comment that the editors judged “racist.” That’s all they think we need to know. Courage displayed. Postured assumed. Verdict delivered. End of story. But…

by Richard Moss, M.D. This week’s forecast reminds us that the depths of winter are the bleakest of times, gray and fallow, the trees emptied of life, the wildlife desperate and sullen, the earth a crystalline tomb. The winter mires us and spreads its desolation before us. It sinks its fingers into our flesh, immobilizing us as it does the world. The winter is a metaphor for death, but it is also death itself. It captures us like beasts…

by Leo Morris I was not raised to say “sir” or “ma’am,” so those words have never been part of my regular vocabulary, except for three years in the Army when they were forced on enlisted personnel as the required way to address officers. I say this without regret or pride. It’s simply a fact of my life and, perhaps, gives me some objectivity on the question of whether those forms of address are important…

Clothes Make the Man — Sad to Say  I USED TO FOLLOW men’s fashions. I had learned to trust it as a barometer of the male zeitgeist and an indication of the national direction. Men’s fashion moved more slowly than women’s and was therefore the more predicting. This was a time, please know, when men still mattered — somewhat and sort of. What kind of information did men’s fashions carry? Well, you are probably aware that the heavy brass buttons…

by Mark Franke I am proud of my wife. Now that can be taken as a generalization, given that we have been married for more than 50 years. But in this instance it is very specific. Earlier this month she was inducted into membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). That is a big deal. I am a Son of the American Legion based on my father’s service at D-Day and then again…

by Leo Morris While we were all busy monitoring the General Assembly as it slogged through proposed legislation, the Indiana Supreme Court sneaked a pretty big development in on us. After an apparently successful experiment in several jurisdictions, the justices have authorized judges throughout the state to allow cameras in courtrooms if they wish. Hoosier voyeurs, rejoice – our time has come. I could offer a constitutional justification for the move. We are guaranteed the…

By Mark Franke Several books and opinion columns I’ve read in the past months have sounded the death knell of the two-party system in America. Or at least encouraged those bells to toll. The basic argument is that both the Republican and Democrat parties have become too entrenched within the Washington elite so that there are no significant differences in how the parties conduct legislative business. These elites have a razor focus on their own…

by Leo Morris I am not the world’s greatest housekeeper, so if you enter my home, you are likely to detect a musty, stale odor or two. I don’t notice them myself. Being around them all the time, I can easily forget they are even there. You’ve undoubtedly experienced the phenomenon. You visit a friend really into pets and are assaulted with the strong smell of wet dog fur or an unemptied cat litter box.…

By Mark Franke “[All men] are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” The Declaration of Independence The above snippet is from the most well-known and beloved paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. School children are taught it . . . well, used to be taught it at least. Even if most adults cannot quote any other phrases from the Declaration, this one should ring the metaphysical memory bell. I find it ironic if…

A Brief Monograph on Facial Hair  MEN’S FASHION in facial hair should be taken seriously. Throughout history, it has informed the observant of societal bent, usually downward, sometimes in a martial direction. Look, I don’t have anything against mustaches and beards intrinsically. I grew a mustache in the Navy because I imagined it would make me look grownup and formidable. Fifty-five years later I am considering growing another, this time to make my face more grandfatherly and less frightening…